Make no mistake about it, God wants to be your friend. Sad to say, there are not too many people who have this type of relationship with God but it’s available to all of us. To be friends with God one must first understand what friendship is. Prov. 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The Living Bible says, “There are friends who pretend to be friends…” There are two different types of friends. There are “pretenders” and there are those “who stick closer than a brother.” Most of the people we call friends are not friends at all. They’ll talk to you, laugh with you, work with you, and play with you. They appear to be friends with everybody but the Amplified Bible says, “A person who is a friend to everybody in the world is a bad friend.” They are there during the good times but are no where to be found when things get rough. There is, however, a kind of friend who will stick by you through any problem, circumstance, and trial. They’re there for you during times of sickness, financial woes, marital problems, and any other type of need. David and Jonathan had a friendship like this. They laid their lives down for one another and their relationship went far beyond the bonds of blood kinship. This is the type of relationship God wants to have with you.
There are certain kinds of friendships that you can enter into and be involved in that when you get into a bad situation you’d rather get hold of your friend than your own brother or sister. This is the kind of friend that God would like to be with you, the kind of friend that won’t run away during times of trouble. God wants to enter into this type of relationship with you and He wants you to enter into this type of relationship with Him. We need this “stick closer than a brother” attitude with our spouse, other believers, and especially with God. This type of relationship with God goes beyond the normal father/son relationship. It goes way beyond that. Yes, it encompasses that relationship but it encircles more than that. You must, however, let God be your friend. If you don’t want this type of relationship with God He won’t force Himself off on you. When Jesus set free the mad man of Gadera the people asked Jesus to leave and go away from them. They didn’t want to be friends with Him. So what did Jesus do? He left. He didn’t argue with them and He didn’t force Himself on them. Remember, God won’t force Himself on anybody.
Why did the people of Gadera tell Jesus to leave their presence? Why did they do this? People come against what they don’t understand. Even today people reject Jesus and don’t accept Him with opened arms because they don’t understand Him. They think He’s standing over them with a baseball bat ready to clobber them on the head if they trip up and fail. They don’t understand that God is a loving God, that He is kind and merciful. The problem in marriages and most other relationships is some form of misunderstanding. What people don’t understand they will come against. Too many people don’t understand God and what He is like, who He is, and how He does things. Because of their lack of knowledge and understanding they’re against having a close relationship with Him. It takes time and effort to understand God and what He wants to do in your life. Also, most people don’t want to make the commitment to do this. The good news is that when you understand that God wants to become your friend then you won’t have any problem becoming His.
We read in Exodus 33:11a, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to a friend.” A friend is a person you can talk to about anything and the Lord talked to Moses as a friend, face to face. Why did God do this with Moses? Because of the desire in the heart of Moses to know Him. Vs. 13 says, “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.” Moses wanted to be friends with God. He wanted to know God in a personal way. When he said, “Show me Your way” he was saying he wanted to know God better and have an intimate knowledge of who He is. He wanted to know God! How did God respond to his request? “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.’” The more you know God and understand Him the more His grace will be poured out into your life. The question to be asked is this: Does God know you be name? Do you know Him by name?
Abraham is the only man in the Bible called “the friend of God” (2 Chron. 20:7). In Hebrew the word “friend” means ‘to have affection for’ and three times God called Abraham His personal friend. God treasured their friendship so much that He took time out to discuss His plans with His friend Abraham (see Gen. 18:16-33). Abraham had input on what God did as Moses also did in later years. And because Abraham was His friend, God did everything Abraham asked of Him. This is why Abraham was so abundantly blessed and was able to live the good life. God treasured their friendship and He wants to have the same type of relationship with you. If you are God’s friend you will abide and continually stay in His love (John 15:9,10). That’s a good place to be for this is where you become the object of God’s affection. This is where Jesus was, as was Abraham. The Bible records that God unloaded His affection and blessings on Abraham and we can enter into the same type of relationship. Jesus said in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Think about it. You are “called” to be a friend of God and as God’s friend you can know everything Jesus knows. Friendship with God is the reason you were created.
Gen. 1:26a says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to our likeness…” Why did God do this? Why didn’t He make a monkey in His image instead? Because He wanted somebody to be friends with. God wasn’t lonely but a friend was the desire of His heart. He wanted somebody in His image that He could fellowship with and be friends with. In the garden of Eden He came down in the cool of the evening and had fellowship with His friend Adam. They walked together and they talked together.
Adam was made in the image of God and this means he knew how God did things. When you are God’s friend He knows how you function and you know how He functions. This gives you something to talk about. When you’re friends with somebody their interests become your interest. When you are God’s friend He’ll show you things to come. He’ll talk to you about His plans. Remember, this is why He created you, to be His friend.
It is important to understand that just because God loves you doesn’t mean He enjoys hanging around with you. You “pal around” with friends. Yes, God loves you but He wants to get friendly with you. You tell your friends your secrets and plans. You visit your friends just to hang around with them. God is your Heavenly Father but He wants to take it beyond the Father/son relationship. He wants to take it a step further and this takes time and effort. You don’t become friends overnight. To become friends with God takes instruction, discipline, training, time, and a whole lot of love. There are no short-cuts. There are things that only time and experience can mature you in. Some things you can’t learn in a book. Friendship with God has many blessings and rewards. Today there are many who love to hang around with people for the crumbs that fall from their table. Friendship with God will give you more than crumbs. It will bring true riches and blessings into your life. It will allow you to live the good life.
In Ps. 15 David gives us some principles for friendship and intimacy with God. Vs. 1 says, “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” King David had a deep desire to be included on God’s guest list because he placed high value on friendship with God. His spirit was sensitive to the blessing and approval of God. All his life David vigorously pursued God’s friendship (Ps. 27:4). He was a man after God’s own heart and this is what qualified him to be a friend of God.
David knew that God chooses His friends carefully and blesses them liberally. Friendship with God gives our life stability. It’s like a shelter in the time of storm. Ps. 15:5b says, “He who does these things shall not be moved.” Another translation says you will “…never, never be cast out of course, be fallen in decay.” Yes, your feet will be planted on the Rock of our salvation.
God’s friendship will give you a good name. Prov. 22:1 says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (see also Eccl. 7:1). A person is known by the friends they keep. God’s friendship gives our life direction in the midst of confusion and uncertainty. Ps. 31:3 says, “For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.” Also, God says in Ps. 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” Seek God’s guidance for all the decisions you have to make about your destiny. Friendship with God is like being a blind man who gets his sight. God’s friendship gives us a reason to live, a reason to get up in the morning. Some people die at age 20 and stop breathing at age 80. For 60 years they work at a job they hate for a boss they envy. Why do they do this? So they can go home and get drunk, fight with their spouse, and fall asleep in front of the television set. But if you are God’s friend He will have a different plan and purpose for your life.
Jesus said in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” Let’s not forget Eph. 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We live the good life so that we can perform good works unto our Lord and Savior. The Message Bible puts it this way, “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” Friendship with God transforms us from being a boring person into a blessing to those we come in contact with. This is all part of living the good life. Finally, God’s friendship will help you finish life well. Ps. 112:5,6 says, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.” Therefore, if you want stability, a good name, life-long direction, a reason to live and the rich reward of finishing life well, then determine to be a friend of God and make proper life style choices. In every relationship we have there is an unwritten code of conduct that we must submit to and follow. Realize that it’s our life style choices that qualify us to be called the friend of God.
Friendship with God is promoted by clean moral living. David said the person who may dwell in the presence of God in His holy hill is “he who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart” (Ps. 15:2). To be blameless does not mean to be sinless. It means to have a manner of life that is upright. Ps. 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” That is the good life. Personal integrity is so important and God insists on having a friendship with you that is based on the foundation of truth (Eph. 4:25). David continues in Ps. 15:3, “He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend.” Friendship with God is promoted not by gossip or backbiting but by speaking positive words of blessing to others. James 4:11 says, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.”
People all over the world have a need to be loved and God has assigned to His friends the task of giving it to them. People everywhere crave acceptance, affection, appreciation, approval, and attention. Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves all begins by keeping watch over the words we speak. Paul says in Phil. 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.” For sure, people who keep watch over their tongues are good friends with God (1 Peter 2:1). Friendship with God is promoted by choosing good role models. Ps. 15:4a says, “In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord.” Who are your role models? Immoral actors in Hollywood or drug taking rock musicians? Professional athletes who cheat on their wives and often get arrested for drunk driving? Is. 32:5 tells us, “The foolish person will no longer be called generous, nor the miser said to be bountiful.” The friends of God honor Godly people, not scoundrels and fools.
Ps. 15:4b says, “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” Friendship with God is promoted by keeping our word and the vows we make. Also, God’s friends don’t hit people when they are down. Ps. 15:5 says, “He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.”God’s friends don’t take advantage of poor people and those who are struggling. Lev. 25:35-37 says, “And if one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you should help him, like a stranger or sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God; that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him money for usury, nor lend him food at a profit.”
Friendship with God is promoted by treating people justly. Yes, God loves friends who live by the Golden Rule, those who are a doer of the Word of God and not hearers only. 2 Peter 1:10 says, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and selection sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” The Message Bible translates Peter’s description of the good life this way, “So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, His choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.” God gave this testimony about David, “I have found avid the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). As you can see, your actions are the determining factor as to whether or not you become a friend with God and thus live the good life. It all begins with you.
